While Drew Doughty and the Los Angeles Kings and their contract negotiations for the restricted free agent are getting a ton of attention, what’s going on in Phoenix with the Coyotes and Kyle Turris makes those talks seem normal by comparison.

Turris has said he wants a deal that pays him anywhere from $3 million -$4 million per season. For a guy that’s scored 19 goals in 131 games over parts of three seasons, that either means Turris thinks the market is really crazy or he’s got big brass ones. After all, the Coyotes are still without an owner and aren’t exactly spend-crazy while waiting and hoping to get a new financial sugar daddy.

Coyotes GM Don Maloney is the guy in charge of trying to negotiate with Turris and his agent Kurt Overhardt on a new deal and while Turris’ demands appear to have done the job we thought they would in making him a bit crazy, Maloney is more exasperated not knowing where Turris is coming from in asking for so much money as he said today at the start of Coyotes training camp (video).

“This is just so illogical, from our standpoint, the position he’s taken it makes absolutely no sense to me,” Maloney said.

“I have no intention of trading him whatsoever. We still think he’s a young, developing player but he’s still developing. Once you’re a proven 30 or 40-goal, 80 point guy then, yes, you get the brass ring. But until you get there you have to settle… Well, again, that’s what makes America great he doesn’t have to settle. He can stay at home and watch Oprah.”

Maybe Turris is at home hoping Maloney shows up to tell him there’s a new contract under his chair. Oprah’s good like that, so why not?

Maloney and the rest of the Coyotes’ frustration in dealing with this rather amazing situation is incredible. While we’ve seen big deals given out to Tyler Myers and Shea Weber recently and to Steve Stamkos this summer as well, seeing Turris’ demands come in so high comes off looking like a cry for help to get traded out of Phoenix where his career has been frustrating for him since making his debut as an 18 year-old in 2007 under Wayne Gretzky.

Is trading Turris a possibility though? Maloney explained his position on why they’re not interested in trading him and why they’re also not giving in to his demands.

“Well I think Kyle believes in himself. He believes he’s a good player in this league and we’d certainly like more opportunity for him to show it,” Maloney said.

“But we’re not a developing team, we’re here to win, we’re here to win now. He showed a step forward in the playoffs last year. That’s why we’d like to get him back. We’d like to show that process and that step forward and the production we need out of Kyle Turris to be a good offensive player. But it’s not there yet… You have to perform before you get paid.”

Proving his worth on the ice would be a great move for Turris before coming up with such big demands, but coach Dave Tippett’s wont to use Turris is proving to be a problem. If Turris thinks that getting big money will help Tippett play him more, he’s wrong. It’s a curious kind of “chicken or egg” situation for Turris as he won’t get the ice time he’s looking for unless he plays things Tippett’s way, but doing that might not help him score the goals he thinks he’s capable of.

If you had to make a bet as to who blinks first in this battle, don’t expect the NHL-run Coyotes to give in any time soon.

The New York Islanders made a splash on Friday, signing veteran forward Cal Clutterbuck to a five-year, $17.5 million extension — one that carries a $3.5 million average annual cap hit through 2023.

Clutterbuck, 29, has two goals and nine points through 25 games this year, while averaging 15:26 TOI per night (his highest average since joining the Isles four years ago). As per usual, he leads the club in hits — one of the staples of his game — and serves as one of the club’s alternate captains.

This new contract represents a nice raise for the former Minnesota Wild man. His last contract, set to expire in July, was of the four-year, $11 million variety, and carried a $2.75 million cap hit.

This contract also resembles the one GM Garth Snow gave another of the club’s role forwards. This summer, Casey Cizikas signed a five-year, $16.75 million extension — one with a $3.35 million hit — despite the fact he’d never scored more than 30 points in a season, or averaged more than 14 minutes of ice time.

This style of spending — along with splashes made for free agent disappointments Jason Chimera and Andrew Ladd — is sure to raise some questions. The Isles opted not to spend that money on retaining two of their key players from a season ago, Frans Nielsen and Kyle Okposo, and the club has struggled to find its form through the first quarter of this year.

“We’re not going to give out any numbers now,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said yesterday, per Yahoo Sports. “The cap could range from where it is now to a couple or so million up, but we’re all going to have to focus on what makes the most sense moving forward.”

The salary cap only went up slightly for the current season, from $71.4 million to $73 million. The only slight increase was due to the lower Canadian dollar, which negatively impacted last season’s league revenues by “$100 or 200 million,” Bettman said earlier this year.

The loonie has been holding relatively steady for around half a year. It’s currently worth $0.76 USD and has been helped by the recent oil rally.

A flat salary cap would be bad news for big spenders like the Chicago Blackhawks, who still need to get Artemi Panarin signed to an extension. The Los Angeles Kings could also be forced to make some tough decisions, as they’ve got Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson in need of new deals. Ditto for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have key RFAs in Brian Dumoulin, Justin Schultz, and Conor Sheary.

Henrik Lundqvist has set such a high bar that his 12-8-1 record with a .912 save percentage is cause for great concern these days in New York.

That his backup, Antti Raanta, is 6-1-0 with a .932 save percentage only contributes to that concern, because if Raanta can manage those numbers, what’s Lundqvist’s excuse?

“I feel like I’m tracking the puck well, moving well,” Lundqvist told the Daily News. “It just comes down to some bad decisions at times that cost me.”

Indeed, December has not started well for The King. He’s allowed 10 goals in three starts for a save percentage of .894. In Tuesday’s 4-2 loss to the Islanders, his decision to poke check a loose puck led to the winning goal by Andrew Ladd.